The Long Road Home
by Dinogeek
Summary: Sometimes the smallest of accidents can have the biggest of impacts. When one of those accidents puts Roy's daughter in Rampart's pediatric ICU, it's going to take the strength of everyone around her to pull her through to the other side. First Emergency fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: And now for something completely different... I've recently become obsessed with Emergency! and have the sudden desire to write a story for it so I figured why not. Hopefully it's in-character and, y'know, worth reading, and ideally I'll update every week or two depending on my class schedule. But, in the meantime, have a cliffhanger! Reviews and suggestions are very much appreciated and will be replied to. :) Not that I'm suggesting anything. ^-^**

* * *

It was early in the afternoon on a Saturday when the tones sounded through Station 51, jerking A-Shift out of their post-lunch reverie as they waited for their orders.

_Squad 51, child down, 1564 East Walker Street. 1-5-6-4 East Walker, cross street Henderson. Time out, 14:27. _

Johnny and Roy hurried to the squad while Cap acknowledged the tone and then passed the address through the window. "Good luck, you guys."

None of the men at the station liked calls involving children; not even the confirmed bachelors with no kids of their own. It was just… disconcerting, even at best, and they found themselves hoping the whole way to the scene that it was just a kid who'd fallen off their bike or twisted their ankle. But some feeling in both men's guts said that this wouldn't be the lucky case today.

They pulled up outside 1564 East Walker, a medium sized house in a neighborhood close near Roy's, and Johnny hopped out as soon as the squad had stopped moving. He pulled open the compartment and took out the bio-phone and drug box, leaving Roy to grab the IV kit. There were several cars parked along the street outside the house and a big sign hung over the doorway reading 'Happy Birthday Sarah!' in bright, girly letters.

"Ma'am," Johnny called to the woman closest to him, "could you tell me where we need to go?" The woman, who had been staring off into space, gave a start but recovered quickly.

"This way, she's inside the house, in the living room." Johnny followed the woman quickly, with Roy about fifteen steps behind, and they made their way through the airy house to the living room, where a small cluster of little girls surrounded the couch with several more worried adults hovering over their shoulders.

"Excuse me, could you back up please?" Johnny called out to nobody in particular, trying to work his way through the crowd of people in the not too large living room so he could actually access the victim. "My partner and I need to get through." The adults shuffled the children out of the way, herding most of the children through the glass doors and into the back yard, until finally Johnny could see the victim. His heart came pretty damn close to stopping in his chest.

He wheeled around, catching his partner at the door. He didn't like having to say the words, but he knew Roy would see for himself before too long. "Roy, it's Jenny."

"Oh God," Roy breathed softly, face paling before he slipped his mask of professionalism back on. All the same, he nearly knocked Johnny over sideways in his hurry to get to the couch and see his daughter. She was conscious (for which both he and Johnny thanked their lucky stars), lying on the couch, and smiled when she saw the two men.

"Daddy! Uncle Johnny! I fell and hit my head and passed out but now I'm awake except I think I'm going to be sick." Roy knelt beside his daughter and began pulling out equipment while Johnny set up the bio-phone, casting almost continuous glances of concern towards his friend.

"That's okay, baby, just lie back and let me take a look at you." He slipped the pediatric BP cuff over her arm while Johnny turned to the owner of the house, the only other person still in the room.

"What happened?" The woman wrung her hands.

"They were playing in the backyard while I got lunch ready. Jenny slipped and hit her head on the edge of the trampoline when she was coming down from a jump. When she didn't get up one of the other parents carried her in here while I called 911. She wasn't unconscious for more than six or seven minutes." Johnny thanked her and bolted back to his partner's side.

"What are the vitals?" he asked.

"BP is 116/79, pulse 43, respiration's 10," Roy responded, trying not to let the worry slip through in his voice. Johnny scratched down the vitals.

"Pupils?"

"Left pupil is dilated and fixed, right is normal and reactive." Out of instinctive habit, Roy reached for the bio-phone, but at the last second Johnny stopped him, placing his hand on top of his partner's.

"Let me do it," he said quietly. "You just pay attention to Jenny." He snatched up the phone. "Rampart, this is Squad 51, how do you read?" After a few long seconds, Dixie's voice came over the line.

"Loud and clear, 51; go ahead."

"Rampart, we have a female victim, seven years old, who fell and hit her head on the edge of a trampoline. She was unconscious for six to seven minutes but is now responsive and complaining of nausea. Vital signs are, BP 116/79, pulse 43, and respiration's 10. The right pupil is normal and reactive, but the left is dilated and fixed."

At Rampart, Dixie wrote down the vitals with a frown. They were not good for a seven year old girl; hypertension and bradycardia, plus the unequal pupils had her worried. She flagged down Dr. Brackett as he passed by and showed him the bothersome stats. He frowned heavily and leaned over the radio.

"Okay 51, evidence of a probable concussion. Start an IV with D5W and continue to monitor vitals and report any change. Transport as soon as possible. Is there any evidence of neck or spinal injury?"

"10-4 Rampart, and negative on neck or spinal injury," Johnny's voice came back. Brackett was paged over the intercom and left, telling Dixie to alert him when 51's patient arrived. Dixie nodded and then caught an orderly on his way by, telling him to get Treatment 3 ready and then turned back to the com.

"51, can you locate the parents and get permission to treat?"

"Already done," Johnny replied, and there was something in his voice that Dixie definitely didn't like. "The victim is Jenny DeSoto." Dixie swore under her breath.

"10-4, 51." Back at the scene, Roy had been monitoring his daughter's condition when she spoke again.

"Daddy, I think I'm going to be sick right now." The look on her face was enough to convince Roy that she wasn't fibbing and he looked around for something to use as a surrogate basin when the woman who owned the house gave him a mixing bowl. He nodded to her gratefully before rolling Jenny over onto her side. He was just in time too, as her eyes widened and she heaved what used to be a piece of birthday cake and some snacks into the silver bowl. She coughed afterwards and Roy rubbed her back, not even listening to the conversation Johnny was having behind him.

"It's okay, baby, don't fight it. Just let it come out." His heart ached for his child. He knew that, at the very least, Jenny was suffering from a nasty concussion and like Dixie, the difference in pupil size and reaction was troubling him. He continued to rub her back in small, gentle circles when Johnny skittered over.

"Brackett wants an IV with D5W. Continue to monitor vitals and transport as soon as possible," he answered in response to Roy's unspoken question. Then he turned his attention to Jenny, who was still lying on her side. "Hey there little miss," he told her with his most winning smile. "Your daddy and I are gonna take you to the hospital, okay? But first, the doctor says he wants us to give you some medicine, and to do that I gotta put something in your arm. You okay with that?" Jenny nodded wordlessly.

Johnny prepped the IV needle and slid it quickly into her left arm, attaching the drip just as a mechanical wail announced the arrival of the ambulance. He hefted up the IV bag as the attendants rolled the gurney into the living room and ran it parallel to the couch, carefully transferring Jenny from one to the other. As they were strapping her down, Johnny turned to his partner. "You want to ride in with her or do you think you can take the squad?"

"I'll take the squad in," he responded softly, looking down at his younger child. "I'll follow you as soon as possible." Johnny nodded wordlessly and followed the gurney out, leaving Roy standing in the now-quiet living room; he looked down and realized he was still holding the mixing bowl and its offending contents and turned to the owner of the house.

"I'm sorry about the bowl, ma'am." She just smiled and shook her head, taking it from him like it was empty.

"Oh, it's okay, I have a child too, I've cleaned up my fair share of vomit before. You just get yourself to the hospital and be with her." Roy packed up the equipment as fast as he possibly could and practically ran back to the squad, loading it all in and taking off in a record time that Cap would have been proud of. It was all he could do to park the squad outside of Rampart without getting into a stress-induced fender bender, and once he'd turned off the engine he sat and took a few deep breaths, willing himself- largely unsuccessfully- to relax.

The automatic doors trundled open to greet him just like they'd done a thousand times before, but this time was different from any other. He'd been here to see his partner (Lord knew the man injured himself enough), he'd been here to see his wife, and he'd even been here once to see his son after a soccer game went awry. But he'd never been here to see Jenny. He took another deep breath and went inside.

* * *

Once Johnny had finished the conversation, Dixie snapped off the radio with a deep sigh and then finished Jenny's chart just as Brackett got back from his emergency call. "Have we gotten parental consent for 51's girl?" She nodded and then gave him a troubled look.

"It's Roy's daughter, Kel." Brackett clenched his jaw and sighed.

"Is Roy riding in with her?"

"No, Johnny's taking her in and Roy's following in the squad." She leaned over and snapped the radio back on. "51, what's your ETA?" Johnny's worried voice crackled over the connection.

"ETA is ten minutes, Rampart; heart rate and BP have remained constant but nausea has increased. Victim is still conscious and responsive and is complaining of a headache." Both Dixie and Brackett noticed the way Johnny seemed to flinch away from the word 'victim' and both were glad it wasn't Roy in that ambulance with his daughter.

"10-4, 51," Dixie responded quietly. "We'll be waiting." It wasn't protocol to add that last bit in but the ER nurse didn't care right now. She and Brackett stood waiting for the ambulance to arrive; somehow ten minutes had rarely seemed so long.

* * *

Once he clambered into the back of the ambulance, Johnny handed the IV bag to the attendant and slipped the blood pressure cuff over Jenny's free arm. "Okay, little miss, I'm gonna keep this on your arm so I can see what your blood pressure's like on the way to the hospital. You just stay calm and we'll be there before you know it." Jenny smiled at her 'uncle' and then her eyes widened for the second time.

"Uncle Johnny, I think I'm gonna be sick again." Johnny wasted no time seizing the emesis basin and rolling Jenny onto the side with no IV. He got the basin placed under her chin just in time for her to dry-heave. He made a mental note to tell the doctor that her nausea was increasing when they got to Rampart. "I have a headache," Jenny piped up thinly. She grabbed her favorite uncle's hand as he gently rolled her onto her back. The HT crackled to life- Rampart asking for their ETA. He answered and then turned back to her.

"Did you hear what I said to the doctor?" Johnny asked her, giving Jenny's hand a small squeeze. "We're gonna get there in about ten minutes and then they'll take a look at you."

"Am I going to be okay?" Jenny asked in a small voice. Johnny's heart nearly broke clean in two but he kept his voice light as he responded,

"Well, you got a good knock on the head, but the doctors at Rampart are gonna do everything they can to make sure you feel great again as soon as possible." He took her blood pressure again and found that it had gone up 2 mmHg. It only concerned him more; her BP shouldn't be that high to begin with and it should have been lowering, not increasing. But he schooled his face into a calming expression and just kept holding Jenny's hand.

He retrieved the IV bag from the ambulance attendant as they rolled up to the emergency entrance, one hand holding it aloft, the other hand holding Jenny's, and they hurried into Rampart. Dixie met them at the hallway. "Treatment 3," she ordered sharply. They swung the gurney into the designated room and Johnny hooked the IV on the pole before helping the attendants carefully lift Jenny onto the exam table. He gently detached his hand and Jenny began to get upset.

"Can't you stay, Uncle Johnny?" Once again, her voice nearly broke the young paramedic's heart but he knew he couldn't stay.

"I'm sorry Jenny, but I gotta wait outside; only the doctor and the nurse can be in here. But I tell you what, as soon as they get you settled in I'll be right back in to see you and I'll bring your daddy along too. How does that sound?" She smiled at him.

"Okay Uncle Johnny. See you then."

"See you then, little miss." Johnny left the treatment room and headed down the hall to wait for his partner. The thought vaguely ran through his mind that he needed to call Cap and tell him to find a replacement for Roy but right now that was floating somewhere far in the back of his brain. Roy pulled up a couple of minutes later, eyes locking on his partner.

"How was the ride?" he asked breathlessly. Now that his job was done and he didn't have to be a paramedic anymore, he was simply a frightened parent waiting for news.

"Her vitals stayed stable all the way there," Johnny told him quickly. "Her BP increased a little bit more and she threw up again and said she had a headache. She's still conscious and responsive, though," he assured the older man. "She's in Treatment 3; Dix and Brackett are in there with her. I promised I'd bring you in for a visit when they got her settled." The senior paramedic smiled for the first time since the run had started.

"Junior, you'd have to hold me back." Then the smile faded and he looked to the closed door of treatment room three. "Now we wait?" It was more resignation than question. Johnny nodded slowly.

"Now we wait."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Ah, springtime in Oklahoma. I was going to post this Wednesday night, but instead I got to spend an hour in a library basement with 100 other people and four very wet dogs and then the power got killed to half the town because effing tornadoes. And all during finals week as well. Thanks, nature. We get it. You hate us. Anyways, fun fact of the day, the CT scanner was in fact invented in 1972, which I know because I looked it up to make sure I wasn't pulling a historical stupid. As with last time, reviews are very welcome and thanks to everyone who followed or reviewed chapter one. Enjoy! ^-^**

* * *

It was ten after three when the HT crackled in Johnny's hand. "Squad 51, what is your status?" Johnny took only a moment's hesitation.

"Squad 51, unavailable at this time. I'll let you know as soon as we are."

"10-4 51." Johnny put the HT on the seat beside him and stood.

"I'll go call Cap and tell him to find somebody to cover for you for the rest of the shift." Roy just nodded silently and continued to watch the door to Treatment 3. Johnny watched with him for a second before he sighed quietly and wheeled away, heading for the phone. It picked up after the second ring.

"L.A. County Fire Department, this is Captain Stanley."

"Cap, it's Johnny. I need you to call in somebody to cover for Roy. He's not hurt, he's just fine- it's Jenny. She fell and hit the side of her head on a trampoline. We took her into Rampart but it looks like she's gonna be here for a few more hours." Cap muttered a curse on the other side of the phone.

"That was the call you guys got half an hour ago, wasn't it?" Johnny nodded before he remembered that he was at Rampart, not the station.

"Yeah, it was. I told Roy I'd ask you to find a fill in."

"Okay, I'll call HQ right away. You going to come back in?"

"Yeah, I'll be on my way back in a couple minutes."

"I'll see you when you get back. Give Roy our best and tell him we'll be there to visit once we're off shift tomorrow." Johnny hung up and went back to his partner. He grabbed up the HT and breathed deeply a couple of times.

"Cap's finding somebody to fill in for the day, but I gotta get back now," he said apologetically. Roy stood as well, stretching, and nodded.

"It's fine, junior. I hope you have a slow shift."

"I'll be back as soon as I get off tomorrow and if I had to guess I'd say everyone on A-Shift is coming along with me. See you later, pally." Johnny gave one last look at Treatment 3, worry creasing his eyebrows, and left his partner. Once he was gone, Roy realized with a jolt that he hadn't called Joanne yet. He ran a hand through his hair and went to the payphone.

* * *

Inside the treatment room, Brackett turned to Dixie. "I want a full skull series, draw blood for cross and type just in case, and get Dr. Early in here stat." Dixie quickly dispatched the orderly. Brackett pumped the BP cuff and read the results: 120/83. "Hypertension is increasing," he remarked to nobody in particular. He looked to the heart monitor. "Pulse is down to 40, pupils are still uneven." He spoke directly to Jenny. "Jenny, do you remember which side of your head you hit when you fell?" Jenny nodded slightly.

"Yeah, I hit the left side. What's wrong with me? Am I going to be okay?" Brackett smiled down his worry and patted her shoulder reassuringly.

"We don't know what's wrong with you right now but when we do we're going to do our best to make you feel better, I promise. Right now Dixie's going to take some blood from you so we can test it just in case, okay?" Jenny nodded slightly again just as Dr. Early came into the room.

"What have you got, Joe?"

"Jenny DeSoto fell and hit the left side of her head on the edge of a trampoline. She was unconscious for about six minutes but hasn't been since. She's experiencing nausea, bradycardia, and hypertension, as well as a fixed and dilated left pupil."

"Anything wrong with the right?"

"No." Dr. Early pulled out his penlight and checked Jenny's pupillary response and then carefully studied the left side of her head. "I've ordered a full skull series and Dix is about to draw blood for cross and type."

"There's a small amount of blood behind the left eardrum," Dr. Early told him. "I'm thinking at least a fracture." Brackett frowned at him.

"At least? What else do you suspect?"

"I have an idea but I want to do some more tests to make sure."

"Roy's outside," Dixie told them. She focused her attention on Jenny. "Hey there sweetie, I'm going to draw some blood from you so we can send it down to the lab, is that okay?" Jenny nodded, eyes blinking tiredly. Dixie drew the blood as quickly as she could and sent it with an orderly to the lab just as the portable x-ray machine rolled through the door.

The trio went out into the hall to wait for the x-rays to finish when Roy spotted them and was over in a flash. "How is she? I've called Joanne, she's on her way here with Chris."

"They're doing a full skull series on her right now," Dr. Early answered gently. "We think she's at least got a concussion and very possibly a skull fracture. We'll know more once we can see the x-rays, and I want to do a few more tests just in case."

"Can I see her once the x-rays are done?" Roy asked anxiously. Brackett nodded.

"Sure you can; it shouldn't be more than a few more minutes." Soon enough the technicians wheeled the x-ray machine through the door and a very anxious Roy followed Brackett and the others through into the room. He took Jenny's free hand and gave her a big smile.

"Hey baby. How are you feeling?" She shrugged slightly.

"I feel kind of sick and I have a headache. Where'd Dr. Brackett go?" Roy was confused.

"He's right over there." He gestured to Brackett, who was standing by the door to Jenny's left.

"No he isn't." Now all four adults exchanged worried glances.

"Loss of visual field," Dr. Early muttered quietly, striding forward. "Jenny, are you right or left handed?"

"Right," she answered.

"Okay, could you take my left hand with your right and squeeze as hard as you can?" She did so and he did the same with his right and her left. "Okay, now I'm going to bend your right knee and put my hand on your heel and I want you to push back against my hand as hard as you can. Okay, now let's do the same thing with the left."

"What's wrong, doc?" Roy asked quietly.

"Jenny is experiencing weakness in her right extremities and a loss of visual field on her left side. I want to have a CT scan done on her as soon as possible and take a look at those x-rays." Dixie sent the orders and the small group waited in Treatment 3. "As soon as I can see the CT results I'll let you know. I don't know about you, Kel, but I don't see any reason why Roy can't stay here until they come to get Jenny." Brackett nodded in agreement.

"Sounds good to me; I'll find Joanne when she gets here and send her in, Roy." Roy nodded his thanks and they left him in the room with his daughter.

"I didn't mean to fall, Daddy," Jenny said. "I was jumping with Sarah only I went too far to the side and then my feet slipped out from under me and I hit my head. Then I woke up on the couch and you and Uncle Johnny were there." Her brow crinkled in confusion. "Where is Uncle Johnny? I didn't not see him too did I?"

"No, Uncle Johnny had to get back to work, baby, but he'll be here to visit you tomorrow morning. I get to stay with you, and your mom and your brother will be here soon. How does that sound?" Jenny smiled but didn't get to respond before an orderly came in with a wheelchair.

"I'm here to take Miss DeSoto to her CT," he said, giving the little girl a friendly smile. "Now let's get you sat up and over there, eh?" Roy hefted the IV bag and put it on the hookup attached to the wheelchair as the orderly slowly moved Jenny into a sitting position and then turned to Roy. "Doc Early said she was showing weakness in her right extremities, so we're going to pick her up so that we don't risk her falling again. Would you like to do it?" Roy nodded quickly.

"Daddy, what's a CD scan?" Jenny asked as Roy lifted her carefully from the exam table. He smiled and gave a small laugh.

"Not a CD scan, baby, a CT scan. The doctors are going to take a look at the inside of your head. It won't hurt a bit. Now let's get you settled so that you can relax faster." He set her down in the wheelchair, careful to maneuver everything so that he avoided being trapped by the IV, and then squeezed her free hand. "I'll be back the moment you're done, and by then Chris and your mom should be here, okay?

Jenny just smiled; she didn't want to nod. The change in position was not helping her nausea even in the slightest and though her stomach was empty she didn't want to risk it. Roy followed her out of Treatment 3 and went back to the waiting room. He had barely sat down when Joanne and Chris came through the doors and he leapt back up again.

"She's not here right now," he told them preemptively. "They've taken her up to do a CT scan and then they'll get her settled somewhere." His wife hugged him tightly.

"Oh Roy, I'm so sorry you had to be the one on call," she whispered. "What do they know so far?" Roy shrugged dismally.

"Not much; definitely a concussion and they suspect a skull fracture. We'll know for sure once Dr. Early's taken a look at things." Roy wrapped his arm around Chris and the three of them waited together in the emergency room. It was about three forty when Dixie called Roy into Brackett's office, where he and Dr. Early were awaiting the paramedic's arrival. "So what have you found?"

Dr. Early slid Jenny's x-rays onto the lighting board and the orderly arrived bearing the results of the CT scan. He pointed to the thin, fine line running across the temporal bone. "Well, there is a definite skull fracture and as a result at least a moderate concussion." He hesitated slightly as he opened the CT results; he didn't want to be the bearer of bad news but it had to be done.

"What did the CT find?" Roy had noticed the older man's hesitation and began to get a sick feeling in his stomach. Dr. Early pulled the scan out of the folder and held it up to the light. Most of it was normal, but there was a strange pale spot on the left side against the temple, convex and shaped like a sort of lens. Roy knew next to nothing about reading CT results but it didn't take a doctor to know that was unnatural- and very, very bad.

"The CT scan shows clear evidence of bleeding on the brain; between that, her other symptoms, and the lucid period following unconsciousness, it's almost certain that Jenny has an epidural hematoma." Roy felt like someone had taken all his internal organs and plunged them into a bucket of ice, but he forced himself to listen for his family's sake as Dr. Early continued quietly. "When she struck her head against the metal edge on the trampoline it fractured the temporal bone; as her brain scraped past the fracture the middle meningeal artery began to bleed into the space between her skull and the dura mater- the outer membrane of her Central Nervous System."

Roy leaned up against the edge of Brackett's desk as his knees threatened to give out on him. "What do you need to do to stop it?"

"Surgery, and fast, is the only option we have," Brackett replied. "Ideally we'll have her prepped and ready to go in before she loses consciousness again. If we can do that it'll vastly improve her chances." He bit the inside of his cheek. Like Dr. Early, he didn't want to cause the DeSoto family any more pain than it was feeling already but the truth had to be told. "If she loses consciousness before we can drain the clot she may not survive."

"What's the mortality rate for an epidural hematoma?" Roy asked. His fingers clenched the desk so tightly they had gone white and he hated himself for even having to ask the question but he had to know.

"Anywhere between five and fifty percent," Dr. Early told him softly. "But Jenny's got good odds. We caught it early and she's young and otherwise healthy. I want to perform a few additional neurological tests to be sure of the diagnosis and then we'll get her prepped and ready for surgery as quickly as possible." He reached forward and clasped Roy on the shoulder. "Roy, you have to believe in her. She can make it through this."

Roy nodded faintly. "I know, and I know you guys will do the best job you possibly can, but I'm still scared to death."

"Just go be with your family," Brackett told him. "We'll let you know when we're ready to operate." Roy nodded again, not quite in mastery of his words, and left the room. Joanne and Chris rose to meet him and he explained the situation as best he could. Joanne began to cry, but Chris was only eleven, too young to understand the full extent of the situation. Roy simply sat and hugged them for a few minutes until Joanne had calmed down. She looked her husband over and gave a faint, shocked laugh.

"I just realized you're still in your uniform. I'll take Chris home and find somebody to watch him for the evening and bring you back a change of clothes. I have to do something right now or I'll panic." She hugged her husband tightly and he couldn't help noticing that she was trembling.

"Be careful," he murmured. "Nothing else goes wrong today, okay?" Joanne nodded tearfully and gathered up their son. Once they were gone Roy went to the cafeteria, hoping some food would still his shaking hands- or at least give him something to do with them. He swore to himself as he remembered that he'd promised Johnny before he left that he'd update the guys at the station when he knew what was going on. He figured now was as good a time as any to have the conversation.

* * *

It seemed that fate was smiling on the men of Station 51 for the rest of the day, because they had almost no call outs and the squad only had one run, just after Johnny had picked up Dwyer at the station and called them in as available. It turned out to be an old lady who'd accidentally burned her hand on a hot pan. They bandaged her up and she gave each paramedic a half a dozen cookies afterwards in exchange for their trouble.

As soon as he and Dwyer got back to the station, Cap leaned out his office door. "Johnny, Roy called a few minutes ago and told you to call him back at Rampart." Johnny bolted to the phone like the devil was behind him and punched in the hospital's number.

"Hello, I'd like to speak to Roy DeSoto." The other men gathered around him, waiting to hear the news, until Roy finally came on the line. "Hey, Roy; how is she?" On the other side of the line, Roy sighed and leaned against the nurses' station, rubbing a tired hand over his face.

"Not good, junior; she's got an epidural hematoma. Brackett wants to have her prepped and in surgery by five at the latest. Listen, Johnny, I know you're still on shift but I know Jenny would love it if you were there when she went in for the surgery. She's been asking about you."

"I'll be there," Johnny responded automatically. He briefly forgot that the others were surrounding him and his face drained of all color. He leaned heavily against the wall and ran a hand through his hair. "What is… how bad is it?"

"They think if they don't operate within the next hour or so there's a strong chance she might-" Roy couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence but Johnny knew what would have completed it. He raked a hand through his hair again, shaking slightly.

"I'll be there as soon as possible."

"Thanks junior."

"Not a problem, pally. She's gonna be okay." It was a thin reassurance, but right about now it was the best that Johnny had to offer.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: You know how in the last author's note I joked about tornadoes? Remind me not to do that again. Those bastards are listening. I'm so sorry I haven't been able to update but this whole month has been absolute chaos, this week especially. You know that town Moore you've been hearing about on the news, the one that got halfway demolished by the largest tornado ever? Guess where I live. Yeah. Luckily we were just far enough away from it to avoid damage but it's been a _long_ week, so bear with me please. Anyways, I should shut up and get to the story, so here you are. :) As usual, reviews will be answered and are greatly appreciated.**

* * *

Johnny snapped back into awareness as he hung up the phone, looking at the rest of the A-Shift crew, who were waiting anxiously. "Roy says the docs have finished their exams. Jenny's got an epidural hematoma; they want to have her in surgery by five. He wanted to know if I could be there." He directed the last part to Cap, and his unasked question was quickly answered.

"Go," Cap told him firmly. "I'll find somebody to cover for you."

"Thanks," Johnny replied gratefully. It took him less time to change out of his uniform than it took him to get into it in the morning and he just about hit the door running. "I'll call you when there's any news," he called over his shoulder on the way out. The other men of Station 51 sank into a somber silence, each of them thinking over the situation.

None of them knew what an epidural hematoma was, but they knew from Johnny's reaction and the speed with which they wanted to get Jenny into surgery that whatever it was, it wasn't good. "Jenny's going to be okay, right Cap?" Marco asked quietly as they sat around the table. Cap shrugged and shook his head slowly. He had no more of an answer then any of the others.

"I don't know, Marco. But I know that every doctor in that operating room will be doing the best job they can and I know that she'll have a lot of people behind her. That and God's grace are all we can ask for." As Station 51 went about the next few hours, each man who went into the kitchen for any length of time inevitably found themselves staring at the phone, waiting for it to ring.

Johnny pulled up outside of Rampart twenty minutes after four and parked as quickly as possible, hurrying into the ER. "Dix? Where's Roy at?" he asked.

"He's in the cafeteria," she told him. "I guess you heard the news?" He nodded wordlessly. "I'm glad you're here. He and Joanne are going to need your support." She shook her head with a sigh. "Of all the small things that could happen, slipping on a trampoline is what puts her in the hospital." She checked her watch. "Kel wants to have her in surgery in less than an hour. Joanne's taken Chris home to find somebody to watch him and bring Roy a change of clothes."

"I'm gonna go catch up with Roy," Johnny told her. "See you later Dix." He hurried off towards the cafeteria and caught Roy on his third or fourth cup of coffee.

"Hey junior," his partner greeted him wearily. "I'm glad you could make it."

"You'd have to hold me back," Johnny replied, echoing Roy's words from an hour that seemed to be an eternity ago. He reached out and gripped the other man's shoulder. "She's gonna make it Roy; you gotta believe in her." He nodded slowly.

"I know, junior, I know- and I do, too. If there was anyone who could make it through something like this it would be her. But she's only seven, Johnny; she shouldn't have to be going through any of this." Johnny stayed silent, letting his friend expel all the emotions trapped inside of him. "She spent her morning at a birthday party and now they're going to put her under anesthesia and drill a burr hole through her skull and who knows how long it'll take her to recover after that? No one should have to deal with that. Why does it have to be her?" Johnny sighed trying to find the answer to an unanswerable question.

"I don't know, pally. But I know she's got her family and everyone from the station behind her." Roy smiled wanly.

"That's not really an answer, junior."

"I know, but I don't really have an answer to give. Did I ever tell you about the time a tree branch almost fell on my friend's head?" Roy looked at his partner, confused. Normally he could follow Johnny-logic but right now it was getting away from him. "It was smack in the middle of winter and there was an ice storm the day before. He and I were standing by this tree and all of sudden there was this crack and the branch came about five feet from clocking him right on the head."

"I'm not getting the point, junior."

"The point is, if he'd been two seconds slower that branch would've rung his bell, but because he wasn't he came out fine. It's all just chance, and sometimes chances work against you. That doesn't make it any easier but that's just how it goes." Roy sighed.

"You know, Johnny, you're right on both counts." Joanne arrived at that moment. She hugged her husband tightly and then seized the unsuspecting Johnny.

"Thank you for being here; Jenny will love getting to see you before- before they take her in." Joanne rubbed the moisture out her eyes and continued. "I took Chris to stay with our neighbors for the night and I brought you some clothes, Roy." She handed the outfit over where it was promptly placed on the next seat and forgotten about as Dr. Early entered the cafeteria. He took the remaining seat at the table.

"We're ready to start prepping Jenny for surgery. You can see her in a few minutes before we take her in. I just want to warn you that you need to be quiet. She's experiencing a severe headache and we want to keep her as relaxed as possible before we operate." All three nodded their understanding; five minutes later, they were allowed in to see Jenny.

Roy crouched down next to her bed and took her hand. "Hey baby, your mom and your Uncle Johnny are here to see you," he said quietly. Jenny's face broke out into a wide smile.

"Can I say hi to them?"

"Of course you can. The doctors are going to take you someplace else in a few minutes but they said we can see you first." Joanne went on her daughter's other side and smoothed the little girl's hair back from her forehead.

"Hi mommy," Jenny said. "I have a headache."

"I know you do, sweetie, but the doctors are going to make that go away," Joanne told her. "And your daddy and your Uncle Johnny and I are going to be right here when you wake up."

"Really? I'm kinda nervous though." Johnny stepped forward, standing next to Roy.

"We sure are, little miss. You just relax and let the docs do their job and we'll do the worrying for you." Johnny gave her his best joking grin but it wasn't too far from the truth. All three adults knew they probably wouldn't even sit down until Jenny was out of the operating room. They talked for a few more minutes before an orderly came in.

"We're ready to take Miss DeSoto up to the operating theater now." Johnny, Roy, and Joanne left the room reluctantly while Jenny was wheeled to the elevator. They stared after the doors as they pinged shut and Jenny vanished from their sight.

"So now we wait- again," Johnny remarked quietly, once more echoing his earlier words. "I told the guys back at the station that I'd call 'em when there was any news. I guess I'll go do that." He ran a nervous hand back and forth along his hip and went to the nurses' station. Cap's familiar greeting was rushed and perfunctory, as though he knew exactly who was calling but had to make sure.

"It's me."

"What's the news?" Johnny could practically hear the scramble as the others crowded around the phone. A-Shift wasn't so much a crew as they were a family, and all the men there considered Jenny a part of that family.

"They've just taken her into surgery; Brackett said the operation usually takes about two hours minimum so I guess I won't have much news 'til then." Cap's voice was hesitant as he asked his next question.

"What's the operation going to be like?" Johnny sighed, knowing that the details were not pleasant.

"When she fell on that trampoline it fractured her temporal bone and that made the artery start bleeding into the space between her skull and the stuff that covers her nervous system. They need to go in and drill a burr hole through the temporal bone to evacuate the clot and repair the artery." On the other end of the line, Cap swore quietly.

"Tell Roy and Joanne we're all praying for her. Oh, and Johnny- if you don't call us the second she gets out of surgery I'll have you on latrine duty for a month." It was a thin joke, but at least it got a smile out of the paramedic.

"Understood, Cap. I'll pass the message along. Call you back around seven." He hung up the phone and gazed distantly at the wall, sending up a prayer of his own- for Jenny, for her parents, and for the doctors. Then he took in a deep breath and headed back to the waiting area. It was going to be a long two hours.

* * *

Brackett and Dr. Early were tense, to say the least. They'd done this sort of operation a hundred times before (approaching literally, in Joe's case) but never on the child of their friend. There had never been as much at stake for them as there was now, and they were determined not to let anyone involved down.

They went slowly and carefully, drilling the burr hole and draining the hematoma. It was big- nearly forty cubic centimeters of blood had been filling the small space between her brain and the dura mater and more continued to flow out as they suctioned it away to repair the middle meningeal artery. It was only luck that kept her from needing a transfusion before the job was done.

A little over two hours later both men heaved a sigh of relief- the operation was finished, and Jenny had made it through. She was by no means out of the woods, but she had definitely found the trail. While Dixie made the arrangements for getting Jenny settled into a room, they headed downstairs.

Roy, Johnny, and Joanne had been watching the Los Angeles sky fade from blue to black while their stomachs turned so much that they didn't even consider eating dinner. All three shot to their feet when the doctors emerged, and the wide smiles on both men's faces told them everything they needed to know for the moment.

"She made it through," Brackett announced. "Dix is working on getting her settled in a room in the SICU and we're going to keep her sedated overnight to help with the pain. She won't wake up until tomorrow morning at the very least, and probably not until later, so I suggest that you guys go home and get some rest and food." Roy and Joanne didn't even say a word, just hugged each other tightly while Johnny smiled wider than they'd ever seen.

"Aw, that's great news," he told them. "Still, after this day I think I might need some sedation myself before I can get any rest." Dr. Early gave a slight laugh.

"Well, you can get yourself some food, at the very least. Obviously there's much more to discuss but it can wait until tomorrow. Tonight, just be thankful that she's still here. And we mean it when we say to rest. All of you will need to be strong to be any help to her." They left Johnny and the DeSotos and went to shower and change.

"Oh God, I was so worried," Roy told his partner quietly. He took a seat as the adrenaline began to wear off and the shakes set in. He continued to smile, though, more grateful than he'd ever been that his daughter would live. "I guess Brackett's right, though; we probably should get some rest."

"And food," Johnny remarked. "I don't think any of us have eaten for the last five hours. I don't know if I've got the energy to make anything though- all this worrying sucked it right out of me." He started, remembering Cap's standing threat of a month of latrine duty, and jumped to his feet. "I'm gonna go call the guys. Cap told me to get back to 'em the minute we heard anything or I'll be scrubbing the john for a month." Roy gave a wry smile.

"When Cap says it, I believe it, junior." The two men shared a relieved smile and Johnny darted back to the nurses' station once more. He couldn't dial the number fast enough.

"It's me," he preempted the captain, not wanting to wait any longer.

"How'd it go?" The anxiety in his voice was almost palpable.

"She made it!" Johnny told him. "They're getting her set up in an SICU room and they're keeping her sedated overnight, but she survived the surgery and they evacuated the hematoma and repaired the artery." The cheers of the other men of A-Shift echoed over the connection.

"That's fantastic. Are you guys staying there or not?" Johnny laughed.

"Nah, we've all been given strict orders to rest and eat and come back in the morning. After the adrenaline wears off the resting won't be a problem but none of us exactly want to cook dinner."

"Well I've got an easy solution for that," Cap answered. "We haven't eaten yet either, so why don't you guys just come to the station? Marco's doing the cooking and we all want to see you three."

"I don't think you're gonna find much objection to that plan, Cap," Johnny replied. "I'll ask and make sure but I reckon we'll be seeing you in a few minutes." He hung up the phone and rejoined his friends, extending Cap's offer of dinner at the station, which was eagerly taken up on. They were all reluctant to leave- none of them wanted to set foot outside of Rampart until Jenny was with them, but they knew Brackett was right when he told them to rest. Being exhausted wouldn't do anybody any good.

It didn't make it any easier to leave, though. Compared to the time spent waiting for news, the time spent driving to Station 51 seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Soon enough they were pulling up in the parking lot. It had only been seven hours since Roy left, but it seemed a lot longer and he knew that the night, when he was alone with nothing but his thoughts for company, would seem longer still.

"Thank you so much for inviting us," Joanne told Cap when they were inside.

"It's not a problem at all," Cap responded. "We're just glad you could make it." He left the obvious implications of his words unspoken; no need to dwell on what could have happened. Then he smiled at them. "Well, dinner and some very anxious men are waiting for you in the kitchen, so why don't we head on in?" The moment they entered the kitchen they were swarmed by the other men, all simultaneously asking how they were, and after many reassurances they were all finally seated at the table.

"Okay, amigos, I've made enchiladas with rice," Marco announced to the world at large, placing a still-steaming tray onto the table. As soon as the smell hit his nostrils, Roy's stomach abruptly began to remind him that he hadn't eaten anything for the better part of the day and he grabbed a plate. All of them dug in, but the conversation and joking that usually accompanied all of their meals was absent as each of them thought of Jenny. They knew she had a long haul ahead of her, and it would take all her strength to make it back, but if you were to ask them to place a bet, each and every one of them would have put their money on her, and nothing else.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Guess who popped back out of the woodwork? XD Not a lot to say, really, just that I hope y'all are doing well and I hope you enjoy chapter four! Chapter five is in the works as we speak, and I'll post that as soon as possible. Until such time as that happens, enjoy and remember that reviews will consistently be answered. ^-^**

* * *

Once dinner was done, Johnny remained at the station to finish his shift with Dwyer while Roy and Joanne drove home to try- probably in vain- to get some sleep. They decided to let Chris stay at the neighbors' house overnight; he still didn't really know what was going on and they wanted to let him have a good night's sleep before they took him to see Jenny in the morning.

Roy didn't know how long he lay awake staring at the darkened ceiling of his bedroom, thoughts racing through his mind, but he knew it was a long time. Each second seemed to stretch out into a minute and each minute into an hour of its own, possibility after possibility spinning through his head. The worst of all was the idea that, even with the surgery, they stood a sizeable chance of losing her anyways. He knew it was the case, and knew that Jenny's survival wasn't guaranteed until the moment she woke up.

But he would not let himself go there- not ever. His child would live. He had to believe that or he knew that he'd fall apart right then and there. The question was, how much damage had the fracture done to her brain, and how much had the hematoma added on top of that? Wondering what might happen collided with not being able to know like two semis inside his head and he sighed, rubbing a tired hand over his face.

He glanced at the clock- it was nearly two in the morning. Almost twelve hours since a completely normal day had gone in completely the opposite direction. It felt like time had turned elastic, stretching out interminably before it would come snapping back like the recoil from a gun. Roy turned his tired eyes to the ceiling and forced himself to relax, for all the good it did him. He needed to sleep and maintain his strength. It took him another twenty minutes before he finally slipped out of awareness.

The alarm jerked him back awake at eight in the morning. He groaned tiredly and rolled over, turning it off and swinging himself out of bed. Looking around, he realized that Joanne must have been up already, because there was no trace of her in the bedroom. It was no surprise he hadn't heard her; after he'd finally gotten to sleep nothing short of an explosion could have woken him up. Sure enough, she was in the living room when he found her, sitting on the couch and staring out the window into another world. He sat down next to her and she put her arms around him.

"Oh Roy," she whispered, "I'm so scared." He wrapped his arms around her in turn.

"I am too," he replied quietly.

"It's like… It's like the first time you got put in the hospital. You remember? You got knocked out cold by some chunk of that building and I thought Dr. Early was going to have to admit me for a heart attack when I showed up. I was absolutely terrified." Roy gave a slight smile.

"I do remember that; I thought you were going to give me another concussion when I woke up."

"But this is worse. I knew you were going to be a fireman when I married you- it was only a question of _when _you'd end up in the hospital. All I did was drop Jenny off at a birthday party." Roy closed his eyes and leaned his head against his wife's. He knew he should come up with something to say to comfort his wife but right now he just didn't know what. So he did the best that he could, holding her close to him and sharing what strength he had. They remained like that for a few minutes until Roy spoke up.

"We should pick up Chris. I'm sure Mrs. Robertson is tired of watching him by now. After that, we can tell him what happened. I know he's going to want to see Jenny but I don't know if it's the best idea right now. She's just out of surgery; all those wires and monitors might bother him."

"Roy, you know that Chris would swim the ocean for his little sister, do you really think he'll agree not to see her?" Joanne replied with a faint smile. "Just be honest with him and he'll know what to expect. Now go and get dressed. If I had to guess, your partner and every other guy on your shift are probably going to be knocking on our door in about ten seconds." She was only half right- not as soon as Roy had zipped up his trousers, Johnny was outside.

"Hey pally," he greeted his partner with a tired smile. It was obvious that he'd gotten about as much sleep as Roy had the previous night. "You're looking a little rough around the edges." He won a small snort from the older man.

"Yeah, I'm _feeling _a little rough around the edges too, junior. I'll be better when I get to see Jenny. I suppose that's why you're here?" Johnny nodded.

"I promised her I'd be there too when she woke up, remember? I don't make promises I can't keep. Oh, and I should warn you that all the other guys are going to show up in about an hour." That earned him another small grin.

"Thanks for the warning. Worse things could happen. Uh, why don't you come in? We're just waiting for our neighbor to drop Chris off and then get going." In the kitchen, Joanne was calling Mrs. Robertson, who brought Chris over shortly after.

"Hey, buddy," Johnny greeted him.

"Hi Uncle Johnny," Chris replied quietly. "Are we going to the hospital today?"

"Yeah, we are," Roy told him, crouching down to meet his eye level. "Your sister had an accident, Chris, and they had to do surgery on her to fix some problems it caused. She probably won't be awake when you see her and you have to be very careful when you touch her. She's going to have some bandages on her head too."

"I want to see her," Chris told his father forcefully. "I don't care how many bandages she's got on. When can we go see her?"

"That's just where we're headed," Roy told him, "and your Uncle Johnny's going to come along with us. Now why don't you go put your overnight bag in your room and then we'll get going." Chris ran upstairs so fast he nearly tripped and tossed his bag on the bed unceremoniously, only concerned with visiting his sister. The small group set off for the hospital and got there just after nine, the very start of visiting hours.

Roy approached the receptionists' desk nervously. "Excuse me ma'am, could you tell me what room Jenny DeSoto is in? We were told she's already been settled down." The receptionist scanned over the files, biting her lip in concentration.

"Could I have her full name, please?"

"Jennifer Mary DeSoto." The receptionist dove back into the drawer full of files, scanning them expertly.

"Ah, yes, here she is. She's in Room 403, up in the SICU ward. Do you know how to get there?" Roy nodded. "Okay, just tell the head nurse who you're there to visit when you arrive. Nurse Walters runs herself a very tight ship." The receptionist gave him a friendly smile. Roy thanked her and left, hurrying back down the hall and running into Dixie along the way.

"Hey Roy," she told him. "Have they told you where Jenny is yet?"

"Yeah, Joanne and Johnny and I are going up to visit her; Chris is here too. The receptionist told me to watch out for Nurse Walters." Dixie smirked.

"I'll say; she gives a new meaning to crossing your t's. But she's nice as long as you follow her rules. Good luck. Let us know how Jenny is."

"Thanks, I sure will," Roy replied. He found Chris, Joanne, and Johnny and they proceeded to the elevator. SICU was directly on the left as they stepped out, an imposing set of swinging double doors, each of which held a strict warning not to yell, smoke, or disturb recovering patients. None of them knew what to expect as they slipped through the entrance- they were halfway anticipating it to be some setup out of an old Victorian novel, dark and dreary, but it wasn't. The ward was well lit and clean, relatively empty right now. They approached the nurses' station to sign in.

"Ah, you must be Jenny's family," the nurse said when she read his name. She was a grey-haired woman that by some standards might have been called elderly, but it would take a real idiot to actually do so. She wore her nurse's uniform with the creases so sharp she could have used them to cut paper and had a stern- but kind- face. "I'm the head nurse, Nurse Walters. The sign-in process is fairly straightforward, and so long as they are very quiet, one person is allowed to stay overnight with Jenny. You just need to let the station know who's going to be there and when."

"Thank you, Nurse," Joanne told her. "Is Jenny awake yet?"

"Not yet, but they've removed her from the sedation totally now so if all goes well it shouldn't be too much longer. She's in Room 403, directly across from the desk." Nurse Walters gestured to the door sitting parallel to the nurses' station, which was propped open at the current time. They thanked her and crowded into the room, hearts nearly breaking at the sight of Jenny lying there on the bed, so, so still. Chris moved over to his sister's side.

"Hey Jenny? Can you hear me? Dad said you might not be able to but if you can I hope you wake up really soon and feel better." He spoke quietly, but his voice was earnest. "The sooner you wake up the sooner you can come home. So wake up." His shoulders slumped with disappointment as Jenny remained still. Roy moved forward, placing his hands on his son's shoulders.

"She just needs time, Chris. She'll wake up when she's ready." He gazed down at his seven year old daughter, practically buried in medical equipment and with bandages covering the whole top of her head and circling around under her chin. Those bandages hid not only a skull fracture but the hole where the bone had been drilled out and then replaced. The area was still slightly swollen from the surgery. Jenny lay motionless in the bed, only the rise and fall of her chest confirming that the worst hadn't happened.

"I wish she'd wake up now," Chris answered.

"We do to, buddy," Johnny told him, "but we gotta let her take things at her own time." There were only two chairs in the room, so Johnny and Roy stood, letting Joanne and Chris have them as they all watched the sleeping girl. They passed a few minutes in silence until Dr. Early appeared in the doorway.

"Morning all," he greeted them with a calm smile. "I figured you'd be here the moment visiting hours started." He retrieved Jenny's chart from where it hung off the edge of the bed, flipping it open and observing the information. "Her vitals held constant all night, and she's breathing on her own, which is good news." They all sighed with relief but something in Dr. Early's voice told them there was some bad news on the horizon.

"However, I'm concerned about her temperature. She's been running a low-grade fever since about three this morning; now a fever is a common side effect of an epidural hematoma but I want to draw some blood and run a few tests to rule out infection."

"How bad could the fever get?" Roy asked warily.

"Unless it abates, her temperature could go as high as 104 or 105," Dr. Early told him, "but we can't tell for sure what will happen." Joanne held her daughter's still hand and sighed angrily.

"I'm getting very tired of not knowing anything for sure." Roy moved beside her and rubbed her back comfortingly.

"I know it's frustrating," Dr. Early told her sympathetically, "but from now until she wakes up, it all depends on her. We're going to monitor her temperature every hour and if the fever increases we'll go up to every half hour. I promise you that we are going to do everything that we can for Jenny."

"I know." Joanne sighed apologetically. "I didn't mean to snap at you, Dr. Early; it's not your fault. I'm sorry."

"It's perfectly alright," he replied. "You're just worried about your daughter. Now, we need to look a little further into the future. We'll keep Jenny in the SICU for a few days until she's stable enough to be moved down to the Pediatric ICU and hopefully from there to the general pediatric inpatient floor. Once she's regained consciousness and had some time to settle in, we'll need to do some more evaluations on her."

"Evaluations for what?" Johnny asked from his post near the doorway. He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew but he needed to have it confirmed.

"To see what any after-effects of the hematoma might be," Dr. Early responded. "I have to warn you that we don't know how much damage the concussion, the fracture, and the bleeding did to her brain. She could wake up nearly fine or she could have very serious complications."

"Could there be any permanent damage?" Roy asked hesitantly, seeming to wince away from the words. Dr. Early met his gaze levelly. He hated being the one having to tell them, but they had to know the truth.

"Yes, there could be. But again, we won't know until she's woken up." Nurse Walters swept through the door to take Jenny's temperature and Dr. Early spoke to her. "Once you're done taking her temperature, I'd like you to have some blood drawn so I can have it sent to the lab for testing."

"I'll have one of the nurses in here in just a minute," Nurse Walters told him. She retrieved the thermometer. "101.6."

"It's gone up again," Dr. Early remarked, more to himself than anybody else. "Okay, if her temperature goes above 103, administer ibuprofen and start external cooling measures. Monitor her temperature every half hour."

"Alright, doctor. I'll go get Josie in here to draw blood." Nurse Walters turned and bustled out, all business, and Dr. Early turned back to the DeSotos and Johnny.

"I know you'll probably think I've lost my mind when I say this, but what you need to do right now is relax. If you burn yourselves out with worrying about maybes and mights we'll end up having to admit you too. You need to believe in her now, and when she wakes up you need to be strong for her. And as hard as it is you need to accept that until she wakes up there's nothing you can do."

"I wish she could be awake," Chris responded softly. "'Cause if she's awake then that means we can do something." Silence fell over the group. They were all worried, and they'd be flat out lying to deny it. They were worried and they were tense and they were scared to death, and the knowledge that- however much they might wish otherwise- they were more or less useless until Jenny woke up didn't help. All in all, despite Dr. Early's advice, morale was low in Room 403 of the SICU.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello hello hello and welcome. Here is chapter five- in which Rampart is ambushed by firefighters, Johnny acts like a little kid, and Roy has a nightmare- and chapter six is one the way out of my brain and should be here soon. Just wanted to let y'all know (in case I haven't told you before) that knowing people are actually reading this thing makes my day. Thanks! Enjoy, and as usual, please review. ^-^**

* * *

As Johnny had promised, starting at about ten the rest of 51's A-Shift trickled in one after the other, filling up the small room until one very irate head nurse noticed and banished them all to the cafeteria with threats to come back no more than three at a time. Suitably chastened, they herded themselves down the hall and clustered around a table.

"How is she?" Chet asked nervously.

"Well, she's breathing on her own, and that's a good sign," Roy told them, "but she's been running a fever for the last few hours that's been getting worse. They're going to keep monitoring her for now but there's nothing we can really do." There was a collective aura of frustration. These men were firefighters, accustomed to going in and taking down a problem head on. Being unable to do anything grated on them, and on Roy most of all.

He had seen many things over his time in the fire service, especially once he'd become a paramedic. He'd seen men and women with severe injuries, including head wounds, but this- this was something else. None of those other injuries had been his little girl. It had been all he could do and more to keep himself together when they'd walked into that room and he saw Jenny lying there.

Somehow, his additional paramedic's knowledge only made it worse. Unlike most parents in his situation, Roy knew in excruciating detail what his daughter was going through and what the ramifications might be if- no, _when_- she woke up. He knew that there was a definite possibility that Jenny would wake up with brain damage, paralysis, or any other combination of things. But he also knew that her simply waking up at all would be a victory.

His little girl was a fighter. And he knew that- but that didn't drain any of the tension from his shoulders. His shift mates made a few attempts at small talk, the end result of which was Johnny and Chet trying to see who could come up with the most creative joke about each other's respective heritages. It was a little half-hearted, but they were doing it simply to try and lighten the atmosphere, hoping that it would distract Jenny's parents at least for a moment.

Plus, it had to be said, it was a good stress reliever for them just to make fun of each other for a while. There was a reason they did it so often at the station, after all. Johnny was in the middle of explaining how you tell an Irishman's drunk when Dr. Early entered the cafeteria.

"What's happened, Doc?" Roy asked the older man, shooting upright out of his seat.

"Nothing yet, Roy, I just came in for the coffee."

"Really?" Chet asked jokingly. "I'd leave to get _away_ from the coffee."

"Well, you take what you can get," Early responded gamely. "Unless you want to go up to floor six; they're the only ones who can make a decent cup. And I'm far too lazy to climb two flights of stairs." He smiled at the gathered firemen. "I imagine the receptionist was becoming quite confused when all of you showed up one after the other."

"Yeah, you could say that," Cap replied. "We all showed up in a line. After Mike and Chet, we didn't even have to ask where to go." His thick eyebrows practically tied themselves in knots. "Look, doc, I don't want to ask awkward questions but I'm no doctor; what exactly is an epidural hematoma?"

"Well," Dr. Early replied, "basically what happens is some sort of blow to the head causes a tear in the artery, which then begins to bleed into the space between her skull and the material that covers her nervous system. When we operated we had to drain the blood out and repair the artery. Now we just have to wait for her to wake up."

"But once she does wake up," Johnny broke in, "what can we do then?"

"You can be there for her," Dr. Early replied. "You can keep on encouraging her. Past that, it depends on herself and her level of injury."

"Do you have any idea how much damage the hematoma did?" Roy asked quietly. Dr. Early shook his head.

"We can't know until she wakes up. But you can't kill yourself worrying over what might happen. Take it piece by piece and go at her speed." A nurse hurried into the cafeteria and called to Dr. Early. They spoke quietly before the nurse nodded and left.

"What was that about?" Johnny asked, dark eyes flicking back and forth from Early to Roy and Joanne.

"Jenny's fever has increased again; it's up to 103.2 degrees. Roy, Joanne, we need your permission to administer ibuprofen to her." Both adults nodded quickly.

"Go ahead, do whatever you need to," Roy answered breathlessly. It seemed as though their worst fears were coming to pass. Jenny wasn't getting better, she was getting worse. The air was tense in the cafeteria. No one knew what to say to Roy or to Joanne; after all, what do you tell parents when their child's life is in danger? 'She'll be fine', or 'everything's going to be okay'? They couldn't guarantee that, not even a little bit.

So they sat in somber silence, knowing that all they could do was wait. It was another two hours before there was any news, when Dr. Early told them that it appeared their combination of ibuprofen and cooling pads had managed to get Jenny's fever back under control for now. "It hasn't gone down any, but the good news is that it's not going up." Roy gave a weak smile.

"I never thought 'good news' could be such a relative term until now." Dr. Early gave him his trademark sympathetic smile.

"I know it's rough, but that is a good sign. It means she's getting better, slowly but surely. If her fever holds steady, it will be another couple of days before we try to move her but if it decreases we might be able to transfer her tomorrow."

"Where are you going to transfer her to?" Chet asked.

"The Pediatric ICU. It's up on floor seven." He was called away again, to an arriving case in the ER, and once he'd gone the remainder of Station 51 trickled out, their need for sleep catching up and overwhelming their desire to be there for their friend. Chris was beginning to get hungry, so Johnny volunteered to take him down to the big cafeteria on the first floor before Roy or Joanne could. He could tell just from Roy's posture that he and his wife needed some time to themselves.

"And I'll get you whatever you want," he said as they headed out the door.

"Even ice cream?" Chris asked excitedly.

"Of course I'll get you ice cream! I'm gonna have some myself." Roy smiled faintly at the conversation. Johnny and Chris had always gotten along like brothers- though most of the time, Chris was the older brother. As their voices faded down the hall, Joanne leaned into him with a heavy sigh. He wrapped his arms around his wife and rested his chin on her head. It was a few minutes before either of them spoke.

"She's going to live, right? Oh Roy, please tell me she's going to live."

"She will," Roy declared, sounding more confident than before. "She's a fighter, and she doesn't give up easily. She'll live." _Because I don't know if I can live without her._ They spent the next several minutes in the same position, neither of them knowing what to say or even how to begin saying it, until Roy had to slip out to use the bathroom. While he was gone, Chris and Johnny returned from the cafeteria, still bearing obvious signs of their adventure.

"Oh, Chris," Joanne sighed. "Go clean yourself up. You've got ice cream smudges on your nose." Chris rubbed a hand over his nose, surprised to find that his mom was right, and scurried off in search of a napkin. Johnny plopped down in the seat across from her with a lopsided grin. "And you don't look much better, John Gage. I can tell just from your upper lip what flavor of ice cream you had."

"I'm saving it for later," he retorted jokingly. "Besides, we had fun." Joanne smiled at the younger man.

"Thank you for taking him. Roy and I really needed some alone time."

"Ain't a problem, Joanne. It's not like anyone's gonna blame you for it." He gave her his most reassuring smile. "'Sides, she'll be just fine. She's tough like her daddy."

"And stubborn like her uncle," Joanne replied, smiling gratefully at the skinny man. "Thank you for being here with us Johnny. It means a lot to me, and I know it means a lot to Roy too." Johnny gave a quiet smile.

"You couldn't have kept me away. I'm gonna head on over to that ugly brown couch in the corner and try to catch a little shut-eye while things are going steady for a while." He ambled over to the aforementioned couch (which really was a spectacularly hideous shade of brown) and flopped down on the end cushion like a tired puppy. Soon enough there was a little ball of Johnny dozing away, arm draped over his eyes. At the same time, Roy got back from the bathroom and eyed his partner with a grin.

"I don't know how a man that tall can curl up into such a tiny little size." He reclaimed the vacant seat that the two men had been silently dueling over and yawned himself. "Although I must admit he has a good idea going there. All of us could use more sleep then we got." It was a little after two o' clock, and the stress of the last couple of hours mixed with the small amount of sleep he'd gotten that night were making it more than a little difficult for him to keep his eyes open very long.

"Well, he left most of the couch open. You could take the other part if you want to." He was seriously starting to think that was a good idea. When, a couple of minutes later, he found his head snapping back upright after drooping forward he realized that he couldn't fight it anymore. He joined his partner on the couch and was asleep within minutes. He slept solidly for half an hour before the dreams- or rather the nightmares- started up.

_He found himself completely paralyzed but fully aware of what was going on around him. Well, this was strange, but it could be worse. At least he wasn't in a burning building or dangling off the side of a cliff. He looked around as his surroundings became more distinct and realized that he was on the road outside his house. As he watched, Jenny and Chris darted outside, eager to have their Saturday off, Joanne following them with remonstrations to 'be more careful!' Roy smiled at the familiar sight; he wanted to call out to them, but he couldn't. He was still frozen._

_Then the scene changed, and he was outside a different house on a different street, and with a heart-stopping jolt he realized it was the house Jenny had been at when she was injured. As he watched, a passel of little girls poured out the front door, yelling excitedly, and then crowded into the backyard. Roy's still immobile body was pulled along after them and he could feel the fear rising in his chest. He knew what was coming. Time seemed to slow to a trickle as the kids played, dragging out Roy's agony as he fought to move._

_But try as he might, he couldn't move a muscle, and soon it was _that _moment. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest and hear the blood rushing in his ears as he watched helplessly while Jenny clambered onto the trampoline and began to jump. "No! Stop!" He yelled as loudly as he could, but it was no use. No one could hear him. Jenny slipped, plummeting towards the edge, her head centimeters away from colliding with a sickening crack-_

_Suddenly, the scene changed again, and he was in a dark room, with Jenny standing in front of him. He strained against the invisible bonds until his muscles trembled from exertion, unable to do anything but watch, useless, as the tears streamed down her face while she looked right at him. She looked like she had before going into surgery. Her body was pale and lifeless, and her eyes with their uneven pupils drilled into him pleadingly. "Why didn't you save me, daddy? Why didn't you get to me fast enough?" _

Roy's clear blue eyes shot open, heart still pounding like he'd run an Olympic sprint. He suppressed a gasp as his hands trembled, grasping the couch cushion like a lifeline. It was all a dream, he reminded himself, just a horrible dream. He shook like a leaf as he got his breathing and heart rate back under control and that was when he finally realized that the cafeteria was dark. Someone had turned off the lights. He sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Next to him, Johnny had shifted at some point and now lay facing straight up. His brown eyes blinked open when Roy moved. He yawned lazily.

"Hey buddy. D'we miss a call?" he asked sleepily. Roy smiled.

"No, Johnny, we're not at the station. We're still at the hospital, but both of us conked out for a while." He stood up, stretching the sleep out of his limbs, and spied a note on the table. It was from Joanne, saying that she and Chris had gone out to get dinner and didn't want to wake them up. Johnny got up and stretched his skinny frame as well.

"So what woke you up?"

"I had a- a dream," Roy fibbed, trying to cast his nightmare out of his mind. It was useless to try and fool Johnny, though. The man had worked with him for far too long to fall for that.

"You mean a nightmare, pally? Wanna talk about it?"

"No," Roy said shortly, not ready to dwell on what he had relived. He checked his watch and let out a yelp. "It's after five already! No wonder they went out for dinner." He abruptly realized that Johnny was giving him one of the younger man's rare somber expressions and knew that his deflection attempts were failing. He sighed. "Alright, alright, you can drop the look, junior." He took in a deep breath, suppressing a shudder at the horrifying memory.

"I was frozen in place, like I'd been paralyzed, and no matter what I did I couldn't move; and then I was at that house watching her on that trampoline and I knew she was going to fall but I couldn't do a damn thing to stop it. All I could do was stand there and _watch_." His voice was pained as he flashed back to the dream and beside him Johnny's look had changed from somber to sad. But he kept on; now that he'd started he knew he wouldn't be able to stop until all of it was out of his head. "But you know, Johnny, that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was the next. I _saw her, _I saw her standing in front of me crying her eyes out wanting to know why I didn't get there fast enough to save her."

His voice broke as he finished his tale and his head sunk into his hands as he started to shake again. Sighing deeply, Johnny moved to his partner's side and placed his arm around Roy's shoulders.

"It was just a dream, pally. There was absolutely nothing you could have done and you know it. And besides, that dream was wrong anyways. If you'd been there nothing in the whole dang universe would've been able to stop you from getting to her." Johnny waited steadfastly for Roy to acknowledge his words. Finally, the older man sighed.

"Yeah, I know, and you're right. But it threw me, junior, it really threw me." His partner dropped a hand to his shoulder reassuringly.

"I bet it did. But it's done with now. How about you and I go and get some dinner ourselves, eh? My bottomless pit of a stomach is getting empty." Roy knew that it was as much a distraction as it was the truth, and he smiled gratefully at the other man. He didn't think he'd manage to eat anything though; his stomach was roiling from the dream and he felt for all the world like it he had swallowed a brick made of lead.

"Sounds alright to me, partner." The two men made their way down to the large cafeteria on the first floor and managed to catch Joanne and Chris on the tail end of their dinner. There wasn't much conversation at the table; Roy's head was still spinning from his nightmare, Johnny and Joanne both knew that he wasn't up to conversation, and Chris was stuck in his own thoughts, picking at his food listlessly.

Finally it was nearing evening, and they knew that they would have to go soon. Nurse Walters had specified that only one person could stay with Jenny overnight and it was decided that Roy would take the first shift, so to speak, so he said goodbye to them and headed back upstairs while they went to the parking lot. Once they were in the car, Johnny made an impulse decision. "Hey Joanne, if you don't mind I thought maybe Chris could stay with me tonight so you could have a little space."

"Can I please, mom? I wanna go backyard camping with Uncle Johnny," Chris pleaded, and knowing that it would make him feel better, Joanne agreed. They reached the house soon and Johnny stopped in the hallway with Joanne while Chris got his still-unpacked sleepover bag.

"Thanks for letting him stay with you tonight, Johnny. I think all of us need a little space right now." Johnny nodded slowly.

"You know, Joanne, I think you're absolutely right."


End file.
